The present invention relates to the new and distinct cultivar of bee balm, botanically known as Monarda didyma ‘Bubblegum Blast’, and hereinafter also referred to solely as the cultivar ‘Bubblegum Blast’ or the “new plant”. The new plant was the subject of an open pollination in summer of 2009 at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA. Seed was harvested by the inventor on Oct. 6, 2009 and the individual seedling later assigned the breeder identification number H9-43-01. The female or seed parent is Monarda didyma ‘ACrade’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,580) and the male or pollen parent is unknown but may have been any one of a large number of parents in the general breeding area with the efficiency of insect pollination. The plant was initially subjected to evaluation in the summer of 2011 in trial plots of the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. The new plant was collected and set apart as a single selected seedling in July of 2012 and passed final evaluation in the summer of 2013.
The plant has been asexually propagated by stem cuttings at the same nursery at the greenhouses in Zeeland, Mich., and the subsequent asexually propagated plants found to be stable and identical to the original selection.